SB 2.7.26 – Lord Balarama

Host 1: His Holiness Giriraj Swami Maharaja ki jaya!

Host 2: Hare Krishna Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Host 1: So nice to see you.

Host 2: So nice to see you. Thank you very much for joining us for today’s evening for Balarama program. We are very happy and glad to have you with us.

Host 1: Maharaja, if you don’t—I mean, Nityananda Prabhu is going to do a brief introduction of yours in Spanish. Is that okay?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Nityananda Prabhu: [Introduction]

Giriraj Swami: All right, so we will begin by singing the maṅgala-ācaraṇa prayers and leading a short kirtan. Then we will speak about Lord Balarama.

[Prayers]

So, I would request, as far as possible, that the devotees who have joined have their video cameras on, so I can see you all live. Okay, so we shall read one verse from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam about Lord Balarama and Lord Krishna. Please repeat after me.

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

oṁ namo bhagavate vāsudevāya

We read from Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam, Canto Two, Chapter Seven: “Scheduled Incarnations,” Text Twenty-Six.

TEXT 26

bhūmeḥ suretara-varūtha-vimarditāyāḥ

kleśa-vyayāya kalayā sita-kṛṣṇa-keśaḥ

jātaḥ kariṣyati janānupalakṣya-mārgaḥ

karmāṇi cātma-mahimopanibandhanāni

TRANSLATION

When the world is overburdened by the fighting strength of kings who have no faith in God, the Lord, just to diminish the distress of the world, descends with His plenary portion. The Lord comes in His original form, with beautiful black hair. And just to expand His transcendental glories, He acts extraordinarily. No one can properly estimate how great He is.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

This verse is especially describing the appearance of Lord Kṛṣṇa and His immediate expansion, Lord Baladeva. Both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Baladeva are one Supreme Personality of Godhead. The Lord is omnipotent, and He expands Himself in innumerable forms and energies, and the whole unit is known as the one Supreme Brahman. Such extensions of the Lord are divided into two divisions, namely personal and differential. The personal expansions are called the viṣṇu-tattvas, and the differential expansions are called the jīva-tattvas. And in such expansional activity, Lord Baladeva is the first personal expansion of Kṛṣṇa, the Supreme Personality of Godhead.

COMMENT

I will stop and comment as we read the purport, which is quite long, but basically Baladeva is the first expansion of Krishna. Krishna expands in as His personal expansions and Lord Balarama is the first personal expansion. Then He also expands on the side of the energy and Srimati Radharani is the first expansion on the side of the energy or shakti. And we, living entities, are also expansions of Krishna and our constitutional position is to be the eternal servants of Krishna.

Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu declared jīvera svarūpa haya kṛṣṇera nitya-dāsa; the constitutional position of the living entity is to be the eternal servant of Krishna. When we act in our constitutional positions as Krishna’s servants, we are happy, free from anxiety, factually, we live in Vaikuntha. And the word Vaikuntha itself means “Without anxiety.” So, nobody wants anxiety, but the anxiety comes when we artificially try to take the place of Krishna to be the enjoyer, the controller, the proprietor.

And in the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says, bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ sarva-loka-maheśvaram suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati. Bhoktāraṁ yajña-tapasāṁ, basically, Krishna is saying that one who knows that He is the enjoyer, and sarva-loka-maheśvaram, He is the proprietor of everything of all planetary systems and, suhṛdaṁ sarva-bhūtānāṁ, He is the best friend of all living entities, jñātvā māṁ śāntim ṛcchati, one who knows this about Krishna attains peace, shanti. We want peace, we want to be freed from anxiety, and we can attain such peace and freedom from anxiety when we recognize Krishna’s position, and we don’t try to take Krishna’s position. So, I’ll continue reading the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, as well as in the Mahābhārata, both Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva are mentioned as having beautiful black hair, even in Their advanced age.

COMMENT

This quality of Krishna’s and Balarama’s of having beautiful black hair is actually significant and I will tell a story about how it showed its significance. At one time there was a personality in Pune named Rajneesh. He began as Acharya Rajneesh; he wasn’t acharya actually. Then he became Bhagavan Rajneesh, and he certainly was not Bhagavān. He had an ashram in Pune, and he was advocating no restrictions, or in other words, among other things, free sex. He had a lot of followers from Europe and America, and surprisingly to me some of our so-called pious Hindu friends, the husbands were going to Pune to have sex with the western ladies. Some of the wives of these men came to Srila Prabhupada and they complained to him about what was going on at Rajneesh’s ashram, and Srila Prabhupada replied, “Don’t worry, I will go and drive him out.” So, that was rather late during Srila Prabhupada’s manifest presence but still he kept his word.

In 1978 just some months after Srila Prabhupada left, we had our first big Ratha-yatra in Bombay and the Ratha-yatra was such a success and we had the chariots, everything was ready, so we thought we’ll go to Pune and have Ratha-yatra there, so some devotees went ahead to make the arrangements. The newspapers, they are always eager to come up with some story, they even try to create some story. So, some newspaper people came to interview the devotees and “What do you think about Rajneesh?” The devotees said that their spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, told them that anyone who says he is God, is a dog. Then they went to Rajneesh and they said, “The Hare Krishna people are here, what do you have to say about them?” Rajneesh replied that “They are being misled; their Guru Prabhupada has not taught them properly.” And thus Rajneesh, of course it was very sinful what he was doing, but now he entered the realm of vaiṣṇava-aparādha, very serious offenses, against Srila Prabhupada himself.

So, as time passed, I mean, not much time but very soon after that, he developed a disease. I think a skin condition, he couldn’t tolerate the heat at all, he couldn’t tolerate any heat. He had a lot of followers and some of them had money, so they built a place for him to live underground to avoid the heat. But even that was not sufficient, he was suffering like anything and finally, he decided to leave Pune. I thought of Srila Prabhupada’s words, “Don’t worry, I will go to Pune and drive him out.” And then, of all ironies, they approached us to see if we wanted to buy their ashram. I went and I looked at it, it was quite an extensive campus, it had nice gardens, it was well maintained, but I felt the whole atmosphere was polluted by all the sinful activities that had been going on there. In the end, we weren’t interested in buying his former ashram. But Srila Prabhupada kept his word, that “I will go to Pune and I will drive him out.”

Now one of the arguments why Rajneesh was not God, Bhagavān, was related to this: sita-kesah, beautiful black hair. Because Rajneesh was becoming bald, and his hair was turning gray. Then, where is the sita-kesah? The beautiful black hair? Sita-krishna-kesah, where is the beautiful black hair? He didn’t fit even that qualification of God, what to speak of being full in six opulences. So, we return to the purport.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Viṣṇu Purāṇa, as well as in the Mahābhārata, both Kṛṣṇa and Baladeva are mentioned as having beautiful black hair, even in Their advanced age. The Lord is called anupalakṣya-mārgaḥ or, in still more technical Vedic terms, avāṅ-manasā gocaraḥ: one who is never to be seen or realized by the limited sense perception of the people in general. In the Bhagavad-gītā (7.25) it is said by the Lord, nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ. In other words, He reserves the right of not being exposed to anyone and everyone.

COMMENT

Sometimes atheists challenge “Can you show me God?” But do you have the qualifications to see God? Nāhaṁ prakāśaḥ sarvasya yoga-māyā-samāvṛtaḥ, that he reserves the right not to be seen by anyone and everyone. To see God, you have to have the qualification. And what is the qualification? That is that you should have love for God.

premāñjana-cchurita-bhakti-vilocanena
santaḥ sadaiva hṛdayeṣu vilokayanti
yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ
govindam ādi-puruṣaṁ tam ahaṁ bhajāmi. 

As stated in Brahma-saṁhitā, that when one’s eyes are anointed with the salve or ointment of love of God, yaṁ śyāmasundaram acintya-guṇa-svarūpaṁ, one can see the beautiful inconceivable form of Lord Shyamasundara within his heart.

PURPORT (continued)

In other words, He reserves the right of not being exposed to anyone and everyone. Only the bona fide devotees can know Him by His specific symptoms, and out of many, many such symptoms, one symptom is mentioned here in this verse, that the Lord is sita-kṛṣṇa-keśaḥ, or one who is observed always with beautiful black hair. Both Lord Kṛṣṇa and Lord Baladeva have such hair on Their heads, and thus even in advanced age They appeared like young boys sixteen years old.

COMMENT

That is another quality of Krishna and Balarama, nava-yauvanaṁ ca, that although they are the oldest of the old, they always appear like fresh youth. Whereas imitation Gods like Rajneesh, as we’ve been discussing, he was growing old, becoming bald, losing his hair, and whatever hair he had was becoming gray. So, no sita-kṛṣṇa-keśaḥ.

PURPORT (continued)

In the Brahma-saṁhitā it is stated that although He is the oldest personality among all living entities, He always looks like a new, youthful boy. That is the characteristic of a spiritual body. The material body is symptomized by birth, death, old age and diseases, but the spiritual body is conspicuous by the absence of those symptoms.

COMMENT

Now this phrase “Birth, death, old age, and disease” comes in the 13th Chapter of the Bhagavad-gītā. In the description of knowledge, one of the items of knowledge is janma-mṛtyu-jarā-vyādhi-duḥkha-doṣānudarśanam. That one should perceive the faults or miseries of the repetition of birth, death, old age, and disease. So, this is part of knowledge; we should be aware of these miseries and understand that these miseries cannot be stopped by any material means. Janma, birth, often people try to stop birth. Birth control, they are afraid of overpopulation, but Srila Prabhupada did not accept the theory of overpopulation. According to the theory of overpopulation, if there are too many people, there won’t be enough food to feed everyone. But Srila Prabhupada on the basis of the Bhagavad-gītā rejected the theory because in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says that He is the father of every living entity, pitāham. The father is duty-bound to provide food for the children. But then again someone could argue “Well, He didn’t know there were going to be so many children,” and Srila Prabhupada answered that challenge by saying that in the Bhagavad-gītā Krishna says that He knows everything, past, present, and future. So, He knew how many people there would be. He is the supreme father, and He wants us all to come back home, back to Godhead.

I seem to be remembering Pune a lot, but there was a family in Pune, three brothers, who were very favorable to Srila Prabhupada, and very supportive of Krishna consciousness. The elder brother was S.P Malhotra, then the next brother was Barry Malhotra, and then there was a third brother. The first two were very involved with the business and with the movement, and then the third brother, he was a little different. He actually got a little attracted to Rajneesh. But the Malhotra brothers, they had a discussion with Srila Prabhupada about the merits of giving free food, the merits, the benefits. He gave the example that, suppose a rich man’s son runs away from home, and he is living on the footpath, he has no proper home, he has no proper food. So, if someone finds that poor man, he can feed him, that’s all right, but then after five hours he’ll be hungry again. But if the man sees that fellow and says, “Oh, I know you, you are the son of such and such rich man. What happened? Maybe you had some misunderstanding with your father, but you should go home, and all your problems will be solved. He will be happy to have you back and you’ll have everything, a place to stay, food to eat, all facilities.”

Srila Prabhupada said, “That is what we are doing.” Of course, we also feed people with prasāda, but he said, “Better than that, we find these stray souls who have left their father, and we are bringing them back to their father, where all of their problems are solved. That is a much better service.” And the Malhotra brothers agreed.

PURPORT (continued)

The material body is symptomized by birth, death, old age and diseases, but the spiritual body is conspicuous by the absence of those symptoms. Living entities who reside in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas in eternal life and bliss have the same type of spiritual body, without being affected by any signs of old age.

COMMENT

So, when we go back home, back to Godhead, by our practice of bhakti-yoga and by the mercy of Krishna and the paramparā, we will manifest our spiritual body. We have a spiritual body like Krishna’s, but of course, we won’t have the same potency as Krishna. As Srila Prabhupada says, “This is the sublime philosophy of acintya bheda-abheda-tattva. Inconceivable simultaneous oneness and difference.

We are one with God in quality, but different in quantity. Krishna is sac-cid-ānanda-vigrahaḥ, a form of eternity, knowledge, and bliss. And when we go back to Godhead, we will also manifest our forms, which are eternal, full of knowledge and full of bliss. So, in quality, we are one, but in quantity we are different. Simultaneous inconceivable oneness and difference, because a God is infinite and we are infinitesimal, or as Srila Prabhupada used to say, “Infinite-simal.” God is infinite and we are infinite-simal.

PURPORT (continued)

Living entities who reside in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas in eternal life and bliss have the same type of spiritual body, without being affected by any signs of old age. It is described in the Bhāgavatam (Canto Six) that the party of Viṣṇudūtas who came to deliver Ajāmila from the clutches of the party of Yamarāja appeared like youthful boys, corroborating the description in this verse.

COMMENT

The Vishnudutas, the messengers of Lord Vishnu, had four arms and they looked like Lord Vishnu. Of course, Lord Vishnu has certain distinctive characteristics, such as the śrīvatsa, which the Vishnudutas did not have. But they had spiritual bodies and they looked like eternal youths.

PURPORT (continued)

It is ascertained thus that the spiritual bodies in the Vaikuṇṭhalokas, either of the Lord or of the other inhabitants, are completely distinct from the material bodies of this world. Therefore, when the Lord descends from that world to this world, He descends in His spiritual body of ātma-māyā, or internal potency, without any touch of the bahiraṅgā-māyā, or external, material energy. The allegation that the impersonal Brahman appears in this material world by accepting a material body is quite absurd. Therefore the Lord, when He comes here, has not a material body, but a spiritual body. The impersonal brahmajyoti is only the glaring effulgence of the body of the Lord, and there is no difference in quality between the body of the Lord and the impersonal ray of the Lord, called brahmajyoti.

Now the question is why the Lord, who is omnipotent, comes here to diminish the burden created upon the world by the unscrupulous kingly order. Certainly the Lord does not need to come here personally for such purposes.

COMMENT

This is a very important point. In the Bhagavad-gītā Lord Krishna says paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ
vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya sambhavāmi yuge yuge. That He comes in every age, paritrāṇāya sādhūnāṁ, to deliver the devotees, vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, to destroy the miscreants, dharma-saṁsthāpanārthāya, to re-establish the principles of religion, sambhavāmi yuge yuge. He advanced Himself age after age. But vināśāya ca duṣkṛtām, destroying the miscreants, Krishna doesn’t have to come personally to do that, He has many agents such as the material nature, who can easily kill the miscreants, and the material nature is quite able to do that and does that.

The real reason He comes is to please His devotees. And another related reason why He comes, is to create subject matter for devotees who wish to chant, hear about Him, and remember Him, like we are doing right now.

PURPORT (continued)

He actually descends to exhibit His transcendental activities in order to encourage His pure devotees, who want to enjoy life by chanting the glories of the Lord. In the Bhagavad-gītā (9.13–14) it is stated that the mahātmās, great devotees of the Lord, take pleasure in chanting of the activities of the Lord. All Vedic literatures are meant for turning one’s attention towards the Lord and His transcendental activities. Thus the activities of the Lord, in His dealings with worldly people, create a subject matter for discussion by His pure devotees.

COMMENT

We are very grateful and fortunate that Krishna and Balarama do descend into this world, which is like a prison house where we are being punished for our rebelliousness and enviousness. Rebelliousness against the Lord and enviousness of the Lord, and They manifest Their forms, qualities, and pastimes so that we can chant about Them and think about Them.

Sometimes Lord Balarama is referred to as the original spiritual master. Why? What are the duties or the functions of a spiritual master? So, one duty or function is to serve Krishna, and Lord Balarama is the first expansion of Krishna, is the first servant of Krishna. The spiritual master gives knowledge of Krishna and thus Lord Balarama is the first expansion of Krishna, is the first to teach people about Krishna. And in conclusion, I will relate two little anecdotes related to Krishna and Balarama that involve Srila Prabhupada.

The first took place at the Kumbhamela in Allahabad, and two of Srila Prabhupada’s disciples, Yamuna devi and Madhuvisa Prabhu were having a bit of an argument about philosophy. I guess they approached Tamal Krishna Goswami or somehow, he was aware of their dispute, and he brought the matter to Srila Prabhupada. Madhuvisa Prabhu was saying that there is no difference between Krishna and Balarama, the only difference is that Krishna is black, and Balarama is white. And Yamuna devi was saying, “No, there is a difference, another difference, because Krishna is the only enjoyer of Srimati Radharani.” They were having this dispute and Tamal Krishna Goswami brought the question to Srila Prabhupada.

Tamal Krishna Goswami said that “Madhuvisa Prabhu says that Krishna and Balarama are the same. The only difference is that Krishna is blackish, and Balarama is whitish.” Srila Prabhupada said, “He is right,” and then Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “But Yamuna devi says there is another difference, which is that Krishna is the only enjoyer of Srimati Radharani.” And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, she is also right.” Then Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “But Srila Prabhupada, they are both saying different things, they both can’t be right,” and Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, you are also right.” Then Tamal Krishna Goswami said, “Well, then, who is right? Who actually is right?” And Srila Prabhupada said, “You decide.”

The other one anecdote, Srila Prabhupada asked, “Who is stronger? Krishna or Balarama?” Generally, the devotees were saying Balarama because Bala means strength, Balarama takes pleasure and strength, and e is also the source of spiritual strength, which is very important for us. But I said Krishna because when you see the deities of Krishna-Balarama, Balarama is always resting His arm on Krishna’s shoulder. And Srila Prabhupada said, “Yes, that is the answer.” Yeah, two little anecdotes.

Now we can see if any devotees want to say anything, if they have any comments or questions, they can raise their hands. Hari Bhakti Vilasa dasi is raising her finger, just one finger is enough to get our attention.

Host 2: You can unmute yourself to speak? Hari Bhaktivilas dasi.

Giriraj Swami: Hari Bhakti Vilasa, you have to unmute yourself. Can you do it? Can you unmute her?

Host 2: What name she is appearing there? Because I can’t find her as 

Giriraj Swami: PV Roselli.

Host 2: PV Rosselli. Okay. I think she is having difficulty unmuting.

Devotee 1: Now?

Host 2: All right.

Devotee 1: Hare Krishna Gurudeva.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna.

Devotee 1: My obeisances. We just held this mini Ratha-yatra in Tenerife.

Giriraj Swami: Nice.

Devotee 1: Yes! The deities went by cars, these cars without top that they take them usually to the parade place. They had a small—but we went around the blocks and then the way back. We put them back in the garage and we were very nectarian. I have one devotee staying at my place and she played mridanga, one devotee lady, Bhakti Sakti, and she played mridanga. She was very happy to be at Ratha-yatra because she has been away for a while. She was my host at my place, and she played mridanga. The ladies were doing kirtan. It was very nice to be back at the temple after so long.

Giriraj Swami: Nice, good. Lord Balarama, He was there, and the story behind the Ratha-yatra, of course has a big story. Lord Balarama was there with Krishna and Subhadra. Are there any other questions or comments?

Host 1: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. Thank you so much for the wonderful class. You mentioned that Lord Krishna and Balarama—Lord Krishna says in Bhagavad-gītā He came to establish dharma, whenever there is a decline in religion, He ament us. Duryodhan took the Narayani sena of Krishna, and Krishna became the chariot driver of Arjuna. So, I just wondered because Lord Krishna, when He came, He had killed already so many demons and He came, so why—I mean, this innocent army of Lord Krishna was killed also, so many millions of people were soldiers, and all they died in this war. I mean, if Krishna wanted, He could have just killed Duryodhana and Shakuni and all others in an instant. Why all these innocent people had to die also?

Giriraj Swami: Do you want to translate for yourself or should ganga?

Host 1: Ganga. I think Ganga will do a better job.

Giriraj Swami: The answer is that everyone who died either by being killed by Krishna—of course, He wasn’t fighting directly, but anyone who died in His presence was liberated so they were not the losers, but they were the gainers. In, I guess, it was 1971, at that time Srila Prabhupada was traveling around India and we went to Amritsar. We met a very nice man, very aristocratic, he was like a king, named Baladeva IndraSingh. He told Srila Prabhupada that an astrologer had informed him that he was present in the battle of Kurukshetra and that unfortunately he was on the wrong side against Krishna. He was quite distressed by that account. Srila Prabhupada said “Don’t worry, that cannot be true because everyone who died in the battle of Kurukshetra was liberated.” I mean, from a certain perspective many innocent people died, but from another perspective, they all got liberated so there was no loss for them.

Host 1: It’s a relief to know at least they got liberated.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah, he did.

Host 2: Maharaja, you have Chandni Doshi also with the hands raised digitally.

Giriraj Swami: Okay.

Host 2: Okay, Shani Doshi you can speak now.

Devotee 2: Thank you. Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja, please accept my humble obeisances, All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I have two questions, Maharaja. The first one is regarding the differences between Lord Krishna and Lord Balarama. Can we also say that Lord Balarama gets bewildered, I don’t know if bewildered is the right word because in brahma-vimohan-līlā Lord Balarama, He did not realize that whole year that it was Krishna that was actually in the form of the cowherd boys and the cows and the calves.

Giriraj Swami: No, we cannot say this is a difference between Krishna and Balarama. Because Balarama, you could say, was put into illusion by yoga-māyā. Yoga-māyā is a spiritual energy as opposed to mahā-māyā, which is the material energy, and sometimes Krishna also comes under yoga-māyā. It was said that once Krishna became so bewildered by Srimati Radharani’s beauty that He attempted to milk a bull instead of a cow. So, both Krishna and Balarama, They can come under yoga-māyā for the sake of Their pastimes.

Devotee 2: Thank you Maharaja. Please, may I ask the second question too?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Devotee 2: Thank you. In the purport where we read that Krishna actually—certainly, the Lord does not need to come here personally for such purposes, but He actually descends to exhibit His transcendental qualities in order to encourage His pure devotees. So, the pure devotees, what do we understand because the servants of the Krishna are pure devotees, and they actually come to take the souls back, so that they are attracted back home, back to Godhead. Then does Krishna come to attract all of us? Because I’m a little bit does not clear on this, when He says comes to encourage His pure devotees. Because they come specifically—sorry, my understanding might be wrong; to attract all the souls back home, back to Godhead.

Giriraj Swami: I mean, by pure devotee it doesn’t mean pure devotees who come from the spiritual world. It just means devotees who are endeavoring to become pure by chanting and hearing the glories of the Lord, and remembering Him. There is a verse in the Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam that says that Krishna comes to the world to create a subject matter for His devotees, so that they can become attracted to Him and resolve to serve Him. That’s a very important reason why He comes. And as regarding pure devotees, we had this discussion the other day, Srila Prabhupada said that anyone who is sincerely serving the spiritual master is a pure devotee. It doesn’t mean someone who descended from the spiritual world.

Devotee 2: Thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Okay, good question.

Host 2: Okay Maharaja, the next we have [1:45:27 inaudible]. He is from Sevilla, one of the cities of Spain. He is Spanish so I suppose he’ll be speaking in Spanish and then we’ll have to be translating.

Giriraj Swami: Yeah. He was on last time also.

Host 2: Yes.

Devotee 3: You were saying that the people who were—you were saying Kurukshetra, everyone was liberated. The people who were there that were dying, they were Krishna consciousness? They knew that they were going to be liberated?

Giriraj Swami: Oh, well, the people who were fighting in the battle, not all of them knew that they were going to be liberated. But that didn’t stop them from being liberated. That is the absolute nature of Krishna and the mercy of Krishna, that even people who are killed by Him are liberated or killed in His presence.

Host 2: Okay Maharaja, now we have another devotee called Kanika, she is staying in Malaga, she is working. She is actually originally from India, but since one year she has been staying here. I’ll ask Kanika to disconnect—I mean, to connect her mic and please she can go ahead.

Devotee 4: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. Thank you so much Maharaja for engaging us in the kathā of Krishna and Balarama. Maharaja, as you said that Lord Balarama is the source of the spiritual strength and He is the first servitor of Lord Krishna, my question is about Balarama-jayanti tomorrow. Is there any specific prayers or any best prayers that we can do to Lord Balarama tomorrow? Or in terms of services, apart from chanting or offering bhoga or reading, is there any specific services that we can do to please Lord Balarama tomorrow even otherwise?

Giriraj Swami: Well, you are fast for half a day, and it’s good to read about Lord Balarama. In fact, I was thinking now, I just remembered that I was going to read just a bit about Lord Balarama’s birth. Of course, birth is not the proper word, we can say “appearance.” The whole arrangement was orchestrated by Krishna, and again He used the agency of mahā-māyā. In Canto Ten, Chapter Two, Text Seven, it says:

TEXT 7

The Lord ordered Yoga-māyā: O My potency, who are worshipable for the entire world and whose nature is to bestow good fortune upon all living entities, go to Vraja, where there live many cowherd men and their wives. In that very beautiful land, where many cows reside, Rohiṇī, the wife of Vasudeva, is living at the home of Nanda Mahārāja. Other wives of Vasudeva are also living there incognito because of fear of Kaṁsa. Please go there.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

Nanda-gokula, the residence of King Nanda, was itself very beautiful, and when Yoga-māyā was ordered to go there and encourage the devotees with fearlessness, it became even more beautiful and safe. Because Yoga-māyā had the ability to create such an atmosphere, the Lord ordered her to go to Nanda-gokula.

TEXT 8

Within the womb of Devakī is My partial plenary expansion known as Saṅkarṣaṇa or Śeṣa. Without difficulty, transfer Him into the womb of Rohiṇī.

PURPORT by Srila Prabhupada

The first plenary expansion of Kṛṣṇa is Baladeva, also known as Śeṣa. The Śeṣa incarnation of the Supreme Personality of Godhead supports the entire universe, and the eternal mother of this incarnation is mother Rohiṇī. “Because I am going into the womb of Devakī,” the Lord told Yoga-māyā, “the Śeṣa incarnation has already gone there and made suitable arrangements so that I may live there. Now He should enter the womb of Rohiṇī, His eternal mother.”

COMMENT

So, we can read about Balarama’s appearance and His activities. There are so many wonderful pastimes of Balarama in the Tenth Canto of Śrīmad-Bhāgavatam and in the Kṛṣṇa book. We should offer Him a beverage called Varuni. Balarama is very fond of the Varuni drink, which includes honey. We should, if we can under the circumstances, try to share Krishna consciousness with others, invite people or distribute books that will please Balarama.

Devotee 4: Thank you so much Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Hare Krishna Kanika. What part of India did you come from?

Devotee 4: New Delhi. I used to go to Punjabi Bagh temple there. ISKCON Punjabi Bagh, where—

Giriraj Swami: Oh yeah, nice, I’ve been there. Then you must have gone to Vrindavan. Did you get to go to Vrindavan?

Devotee 4: Yes, Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Nice, good.

Host 2: Okay Maharaja, right now in the list there is nobody with the hands raised, so you can invite people if you wish, or as you wish.

Giriraj Swami: No, I think we can sing the Nṛsiṁha prayers.

Host 2: There is a last minute hand raising by Keshava dasa. Is it okay I connect him?

Giriraj Swami: Yeah.

Host 2: Okay. Keshava, you can speak now.

Devotee 5: Hare Krishna Maharaja. All glories to Srila Prabhupada. I’m calling from Bangalore, Maharaja, India. When come on Zoom to ISKCON Seshadripuram?

Giriraj Swami: I’m coming on tonight again. Well, be your tomorrow morning.

Devotee 5: Yeah, actually for me it is up half an hour past twelve midnight now. Today you are coming Maharaja? I mean the Balarama day today?

Giriraj Swami: Yes, I am.

Devotee 5: What time Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: Let me check, I’ll tell you exactly.

Devotee 5: Eleven, twelve maybe.

Giriraj Swami: I’m coming on at 7:30 tonight, my time, which will be eight in the morning your—

Devotee 5: Okay, eight o’clock in the morning. Balarama glorifications. Maharaja, one doubt was lingering my mind. When we discuss about Balarama, I’ve been hearing for the past twenty, twenty-five years about Balarama that is an expansion of Krishna, and then Krishna’s all the activities outside Vrindavan is done through Balarama. Krishna never leaves Vrindavan, even if Krishna’s going to Mathura and Dwarka, killing the demons, and all the activities. This little is confusing me. Krishna really left Vrindavan or it was all through His expansion Balarama He did all the activities?

Giriraj Swami: I never heard that. It’s true that the original Krishna does not leave Vrindavan, but there is an expansion of Krishna, not Balarama, but it’s just an expansion of Krishna called Vāsudeva Krishna. And that Vāsudeva Krishna, He sometimes shows four hands and sometimes He shows two hands. That’s what I understand.

Devotee 5: My second question, Maharaja, is that Balarama, He had one pastime, He wanted to include mother Yamuna, River Yamuna in rāsa-līlā. She was hesitating and then He used His plow and then cut into some various places. How to understand this actually? She is a devotee of Krishna and whether Balarama wants to show that He is non-different from Krishna to Yamuna and to the other world people?

Giriraj Swami: In that pastime, Balarama was enjoying with His gopīs near the Yamuna River, and He was apparently drunk, intoxicated from the Varuni beverage. Yamuna devi got a little bewildered seeing Balarama intoxicated, and therefore, when Balarama called for her, she didn’t come. But then, as you said, He took His plow and He was going to make all these rivulets to draw her closer to Him with his plow. And then she came to her senses that this is the omnipotent Supreme Personality of Godhead, and she should obey His order.

Host 2: Maharaja, I have one question also if there is time. Can I put the question?

Giriraj Swami: Yes.

Host 2: Okay. My question is many times we hear that Balarama is considered as adi-guru. He is the original guru and without His permission or without His mercy, let’s say, we cannot get the love for Krishna, we cannot take the shelter of Krishna. But at the same time, sometimes we hear that Radharani, without the mercy of Radharani we cannot get the love of Krishna, or we cannot get the bhakti. So, I don’t know, sometimes it becomes confusing, that who should be placed first, Radharani or Balarama? Because He is adi-guru, He is in one sense the original guru. But at the same time Radharani cannot be ignored.

Giriraj Swami: We need the mercy of both. We can’t neglect either one of them, and They both have the same goal, that we should serve Krishna. They are both there to help us through paramparā. I mean, we need all the mercy we can get, we want both, Lord Balarama’s mercy and Srimati Radharani’s mercy.

Host 2: But in that context, there is nobody between the two superior to the other, right? I mean, both are on the same level because Radharani is the internal potency of Krishna and He is the first expansion of Krishna. In that expect, can we understand that both are on the same level or there is one superior to the other? Or there has to be—we have to please simultaneously both or one and the other? I mean this sort of that context, especially these two personalities, because They are very well connected to Krishna. I mean, in that sense They are very loving to Krishna. It becomes a bit delicate to understand.

Giriraj Swami: In terms of tattva, Balarama is viṣṇu-tattva, and in that sense, you could say, He is superior to Srimati Radharani because She is śakti-tattva, shakti and shaktiman, it is said shakti, shaktiman abheda, there is no difference between the shakti and the possessor of the shakti. In that sense They are the same, but still, if we had to analyze the Lord is, in terms of tattva, is superior to the energy.

But, in the Nectar of Devotion, Srila Prabhupada writes that because Krishna is the Supreme Personality of Godhead, that it’s hard to approach Him, and therefore, devotees prefer to approach Him through His compassionate nature, which is Srimati Radharani. She represents Krishna’s compassionate nature; we approach Krishna through Her. Srila Prabhupada says Srimati Radharani recommends someone to Krishna, and Krishna will accept that devotee into His association.

Host 2: In Vrindavan, usually the Vrajavāsīs, they are more believers of Radharani and they comment also that without Her permission you cannot even enter Vrindavan. Even if you have the mercy of Balarama, but if you have not got the mercy of Radharani, it will be impossible to enter Vrindavan. In that aspect sometimes—maybe because they are believers, I mean, their followers of Radharani in Vrindavan especially, they are more biased, let’s say, towards Radharani? Or is it the fact?

Giriraj Swami: It’s a fact.

Host 2: It’s a fact. So, in that sense, She becomes superior. In any ways also wherever we find Krishna, there has to be Radha next to Him. But not necessarily where is Krishna there is Balarama next to Him. But Radharani is surely next to Him.

Okay, thank you Maharaja. Now, if we have another two hands up. There is one, Ananda Vardana, I think he is the first in the line. Ananda Vardana, can you unmute and start speaking please?

Devotee 6: Hare Krishna guru Maharaja, accept my humble obeisances, very nice to see you. This manifest is very enchanting. My question is, in the maha-mantra Hare Krishna, when we say “Rama”, often we hear in some of Prabhupada’s lectures, that “Rama” refers to Balarama. And sometimes it’s mentioned that—I’ve also heard, if I’m not mistaken, that Rama is also Radha-Ramana. Which should be the correct understanding? This is one question, then the second one.

Giriraj Swami: Both are true, both are correct, and it would depend on your mood. If you want to take the “Rama” as Krishna, Radhika- Raman or as Balarama.

Devotee 6: Okay, so both are correct. And another question is that, where you said the purpose of Krishna’s descent is not actually to kill the miscreants because that can be killed by Krishna’s energy, the material nature. Material nature is killing the miscreants. But also, material nature is killing the devotees, we are seeing so many devotees are dying at a young age, now especially because of the virus. How do we understand that?

Giriraj Swami: Everyone will die, sooner or later, whether one is a devotee or not. But death has a different significance for a devotee as opposed to a non-devotee. Srila Prabhupada gives the example of the cat, with its kitten and with a rat; if the cat picks up a rat in its jaws, then that’s death for the rat. But if the cat picks up her kitten in her mouth, it’s just to carry that kitten from one place to another. So, death for a devotee really isn’t death, in the same way as for non-devotee. But death just means that we are being picked up from one place and carried to another place. We remain the same.

Devotee 6: Okay.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you, good question. Vihari, we don’t hear you.

Host 6: Yeah, I was muted. Rasa Sundri, can you unmute yourself please?

Devotee 7: Hare Krishna Guru Maharaja. Thank you for giving us so much of your time, it’s so wonderful, we can’t stop. I have one question, guru Maharaja. The other day I was hearing a class of yours, and I hope I understood it right, you were talking about receiving mercy because we were talking about receiving mercy. In this class you say that until the heart is not pure actually one cannot—no, sorry, meanwhile one is envious, he cannot really receive mercy. So, I was thinking, first of all, I hope I understood it right, and if I understood it right, then what about us? Because our hearts are still so dirty, full of envious and so many bad things. How is it possible for us to even ask for mercy if we don’t even have a recipient for receiving the mercy? I don’t know, I understand.

Giriraj Swami: We may have some traces of envy in the heart, but when we are praying to Krishna, we are not overwhelmed by envy. If we were fully envious, like demons, then we wouldn’t pray to Krishna. We would think we are supreme. If you are praying to Krishna for mercy, it means that you are somewhat humble and somewhat free to a large extent, free from envy. So, what you quoted me as saying would apply to non-devotees, but not to devotees who happen to have traces of envy.

Devotee 7: Thank you.

Host 2: Okay Maharaja, now we have two more people with the hands raised. Next is Gita. I don’t know who she is, from where, but Gita can you unmute yourself please? Hare Krishna Gita. Gita? Okay, I think next after that is Bhakta Vashi. Vashi is from Malaga, we can in the meantime speak, and later on Gita can take over.

Devotee 8: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Please accept my humble obeisances. All glory to Prabhupada.

Giriraj Swami: Nice to see you!

Devotee 8: How are you Maharaja?

Giriraj Swami: I’m good.

Devotee 8: Thank you, so nice to see you and hear you Maharaja. I wanted to ask, maybe it will be a silly question for you, I just wanted to know His Holiness Bhakti Charu Maharaja, why did he left his body? Why did he left this earth so soon? What was that necessity? It’s a very simple question, but it doesn’t strike me, I don’t know. I’m so confused, why did he went so early?

Giriraj Swami: Well, I think the simple answer is that Srila Prabhupada called him. But he also wrote a very interesting Vyasa-puja offering to Srila Prabhupada in 2012. At the end of his Vyasa-puja offering, he wrote that “Now I have done what you wanted me to do here. I’ve finished my work and now I’m ready to come to you, so please take me.” That was eight years ago, but it seems that—we got him for another eight years, but it seems that prayer of his was accepted by Srila Prabhupada. I mean, the whole movement is feeling separation from him, but we have to take it as a higher arrangement. Now we have to serve in separation.

Devotee 8: Yeah. But my questions—I don’t know, I’m still confused. Was it so necessary over there in Goloka, Vrindavan, for Maharaja to be there rather to be here? Or maybe he—you think he will again be reborn here on this earth very soon? Maybe he take another body?

Giriraj Swami: Some things are beyond our ability to assess or comprehend. I can’t really say why, why Srila Prabhupada chose to call him now, but I do have faith that we will be reunited. As Srila Prabhupada said, we’ll have another ISKCON in the spiritual sky.

Devotee 8: Thank you, thank you very much Maharaja. I appreciate it. Thank you.

Host 2: Okay Maharaja, there are no more questions now. I think I had a hand before raised, but now I think she lowered it again and she is not there. You can proceed with whatever rest of the program by yourself.

Giriraj Swami: All right. I think we’ll just—I mentioned the Nṛsiṁha prayers, but I think we can skip it because it’s gotten pretty late. But we’ll offer obeisances to all the devotees. I’ll say it in English and then Ganga will say it in Spanish, and then we’ll all say it in Sanskrit.

Let us offer our respectful obeisances unto all the Vaishnava devotees of the Lord, who are just like desire trees who can fulfil the desires of everyone, and are full of compassion for the fallen conditioned souls.

vāñchā-kalpa-tarubhyaś ca

kṛpā-sindhubhya eva ca

patitānāṁ pāvanebhyo

vaiṣṇavebhyo namo namaḥ

Host 2: Okay, thank you Maharaja.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. My pleasure.

Host 2: We are very blessed to have you with us.

Devotee 9: Thank you very much Maharaja, and please take care of yourself.

Giriraj Swami: Thank you. I saw Bhakti again. That was really nice.

Devotees: Hare Krishna Maharaja. Haribol!